The Woman As Object In Richard Steele's The Conscious Lovers

The Woman as Object In Richard Steele’s play The Conscious Lovers, unmarried women, mainly Lucinda, are treated as objects rather than human beings. There are multiple instances throughout the play that show how characters value her. Such as, her mother trying to marry her to Cimberton and becoming frustrated when she cannot control her daughter’s marriage. As well, when Sir John Bevil is trying to negotiate with Mr. Sealand about honoring the marriage proposal between their children because he knows that Lucinda offers a lot of wealth to his son. Thirdly, by the end, Cimberton becomes uninterested in Lucinda when he finds out that she’s now worth half of the estate and decides not to marry her because of it. These three major instances show how the play engages with early modern gender roles of the unmarried women. They

Likewise, Lucinda’s long-lost sister is often favoured over her, making her appear as an older antique that no one’s quite so interested in when they see Indiana as a shiny new toy. For example, Bevil fell in love with Indiana despite the fact he was promised to another woman. Lucinda’s father split up her inheritance without another thought after meeting Indiana after all the years she was lost, and with his only hard evidence being a bracelet. Therefore, between the possessive behaviour of both her parents and in-law, as well as the treatment she receives from her possible-husbands, Lucinda is nothing more than a means to an end. She’s only an inheritance. Despite her even being able to marry who she wanted in the end, it was more of a last resort since her two other suitors were now out of the picture, so even then, had she really gotten to